Bin men pocket £70,000 lottery scratchcard win

NEVER BIN BETTER: County Down bin men Stephen Inglis (46), from Bangor, and Frank McCormick (44), from Newtownards, celebrate their wheelie good fortune after collecting a tasty 70,000 from a National Lottery Scratchcard.

News Desk

Two bin men are celebrating after winning £70,000 from a National Lottery scratchcard.

A new car and a trip to Disneyland in Paris are just a couple of options on the shopping lists of Stephen Inglis (46), from Bangor, and Frank McCormick (44), from Newtownards, after striking it rich on a Jewel 7s Doubler Scratchcard that they bought from Centra in Holywood.
And the best mates have a diet plan to thank for fattening their bank balances, after ‘binning’ their sausage rolls in exchange for Lottery gold.
“We’re still in total disbelief,” explained Stephen who has known Frank for nine years and worked with him for the last four. “Every morning when we’re driving the bin lorry, we listen to Johnny Hero’s ‘Minute To Win It’ quiz on U105 and see who can get the most answers right – with the loser buying the sausage rolls. “However, Frank’s been on a diet recently so we swapped the sausage rolls for scratchcards - but we never thought we would win. All I can say is thank God that Frank needed to lose a bit of weight,” he laughed.
Normally the duo choose a random scratchcard but, not having any success with this method, Stephen decided on this occasion to choose a Jewel 7s Doubler Scratchcard which they took back to the lorry and scratched in the car park.
“Frank always scratches the cards as I never win,” continued Stephen, “and he said to me that we had a lucky 7 in one of the rows. Then after a pause, he said ‘we’ve won 70, we’ve won 70’. I said ’70 quid?’ and he said ‘no, 70 thousand’!”
He added: “We phoned Camelot and the rest is history. They confirmed our win and we still can’t believe it. It feels like it’s not really happening, but we’re not complaining,” he added.
Stephen said he won’t waste his share of the winnings but instead will take his time deciding how to spend it after a celebratory meal with his children.
Frank, however, already has his eyes on a new car and also wants to take his family to EuroDisney and pay off a few debts.